Verse Of The Week: No power in the sky above or in the earth below- indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us fron the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord ~Romans 8:39

These are addicting to make!!!! You can make these up pretty quickly. They make a grea t present for a baby, a birthday, or Christmas.

After making a ball out make of denim last week I thought it would be a good idea to make some out of different fabrics and colors. So during nap time one day I made these. I planned on putting them up for Christmas, but Dakota woke up early from nap and saw them. It was all over then. Of course he wanted to play with them right then.

How could I say no? I told him to go ahead.

I was interested to see if he would notice the different textures. I just sat back and watched him and he noticed the textures right away.

He touched all of them and said "Hey Mommy this one is the hardest."

He was right!!!

"And this one is the softest."

"This one has lots of colors."

These will provide HOURS of fun!

These are great for rainy days and evenings!!! We have a blast playing with them.

And they are a great learning tool too!!! We talk about colors, textures, sizes, and count them.

I love to go to Buckle and see all the clothes. What I don't like are the $200+ for a pair of jeans. I would love to be able to buy them but that isn't going to happen unless I win the l ottery! While browsing in there one day my husband found a pair of jeans that was embellished with leather crosses. They we amazing and he really wanted them. So for Christmas last year I created him a pair very similar to the ones we saw in Buckle. He loves them and wears them all the time! I made these before my blogging days but I did post about them HERE. I have had a couple people ask how I made them so I figured what better time then now. I made my son a pair like Daddy's.

Supplies Needed:

Jeans

Leather Scraps

Jeans Thread

Leather needle

Grab your leather scraps and trace or freehand crosses on the back side.

I did 5 total. 3 for the front and 2 for the back pockets. The 3 for the front are all a lttle different styles and sizes. The 2 for the back pockets are identical. Cut them out.

Grab the seam ripper and rip open the inner seam of the leg the crosses are going on.

*I do the inner seam because it is easier to sew back when you're finished *

Arrange the crosses on the jeans how ever you like them.

Using jeans thread and a leather needle sew the crosses to the jeans.

On the bigger cross I sewed around the edges.

On the small ones I just sewed down the middle of the cross.

Sew the inseam that you opened up and then zig zag stitch or serge the raw edge.

Here's the front.

Now for the pockets:

Grab the seam ripper again and open the seams on the pockets.

I left the top where it is bar tacked alone but you can take the pocket completely off to make it easier to add the crosses.

Every time I am working on a sewing project I spend time trying to f ind the scissors, tape measure, or seam ripper. I set them down and then they get covered up or moved. I get very aggrevated at myself when this happens so it was time to do something about it. So I made myself a tool belt. Since I still have tons of pockets and waistbands left from the quilt that's what I used.

Supplies Needed:

Waistband from jeans

4 pockets from jeans

Jeans thread

Cut 4 pockets off of a pair of jeans. Leave 1" of extra fabric above the top of the pocket.

(I know there are 5 in this picture, but I ended up only needing 4. )

Open up the waistband and tuck the tabs (extra fabric above the pockets) inside the waistband and pin.

It's been rainy here for the last few days so we have had to find fun things to do inside. I found a great pattern and tutorial for fabric balls at The Purl Bee. I am soooo glad I did.! The kids LOVE these and have played with these for hours!!! This is a great way to us up some scraps and you can whip these up quickly. I made mine a little different then The Purl Bee. Here's how I made mine.